Escape
by Sop12345d
Summary: While trying to escape his newfound responsibilities one night, Hiccup gets distracted and gets separated from Toothless. Meanwhile, Alvin the Treacherous is plotting yet again to capture the Dragon Conqueror and Stoick is worried sick over his son. Contains kidnapping and minor violence, so rated T for Teens.
1. Chapter 1

**Escape**

_based on the How To Train Your Dragon franchise (owned by DreamWorks)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own How To Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks does._

**Author's Note:**

**This is my first fanfic so please don't be too harsh. Any writing advice is accepted. I'll continue the story if people like it. **

Chapter 1:

It was a peaceful morning on Berk; at least, it was until Hiccup woke up. From the moment he had finished his breakfast, everything was chaos: Fishlegs rushed in with the news that the Gronkles were eating the rocks off of peoples' houses, the Deadly Nadders had toothaches and were shooting spines at the villagers and that the Terrible Terrors were stealing fish again. Hiccup hadn't expected the change from dragons being deadly enemies to peaceful companions to be easy, but it had already been six months since he had defeated the Red Death and had brought an end to the war between dragons and Vikings when he had befriended the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, a Night Fury named Toothless, and Hiccup was expecting things to become at least a bit easier than before. But the dragons still caused havoc in the village, and since he was becoming a resident expert on the subject, Hiccup was always called in to sort things out. Not only that, but any other conflicts too; like when, on the same day that this story starts, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, wouldn't stop bickering at a Dragon Academy meeting.

"Hey, it's my turn to go!" yelled Tuffnut, arguing with his sister as they each sat upon their respective dragon heads of their dragon, Barf and Belch, a two-headed Hideous Zippleback.

"No, it's my turn!" Ruffnut yelled back.

"No, mine!"

"_No, _mine!"

"Guys! Same dragon!" Hiccup reminded them, again. He sighed. They were having another friendly competition for who could do the best tricks on their dragon, and the twins had forgotten that they both had to ride the Zippleback in order to fly it.

"Oh yeah. I knew that," said Tuffnut, trying to save face.

"Did not!" retorted Ruffnut.

"Did too! I totally did!" Here, Tuffnut finally mounted his head of the dragon while Ruffnut did the same on her end, still fighting.

"Ha! Some dragon trainer!" Snotlout said mockingly to Hiccup. He motioned to the twins, who were now punching each other in the face. "You can't even stop these two twits from knocking each other out!" This was true, as Tuffnut and Ruffnut had both knocked each other unconscious and were lying on the floor of the dragon arena, out cold.

"Leave him alone, Snotlout," said Astrid, with a threat in her voice that Snotlout had no trouble picking up on. However, this didn't stop him from calling Hiccup a nasty name under his breath when he thought Astrid was out of hearing range.

_Ugh, _thought Hiccup to himself. _I can't wait to go for a sunset flight with Toothless this evening._

Somehow, he got through the rest of the day, finally rushing home to fetch Toothless' saddle so he could go for a nice flight to take his mind off his stresses. After fumbling with it for a few seconds while Toothless stood patiently, Hiccup mounted Toothless and they were off.

The exhilaration of flying never quite got old for Hiccup, and every time he did it, he still felt the amazing rush as the wind blew in his face, soaring above the world without a trouble to mind. Before long, he had circled the island of Berk and was heading out to sea, trying to forget all the newfound responsibilities he was forced to face every day. The sky grew darker as he sped away, gliding just above the ocean spray.

This went on for some time before Hiccup noticed that there shouldn't even be ocean spray this high up; and then he finally paid more attention to his surroundings: black clouds had rolled in, smothering the moon's pale white light and obstructing the view of the clear, twinkling stars of above. The ocean below Hiccup looked like a roiling, boiling stew; except that stew didn't have waves thirty feet high or wind currents as fast as a small hurricane.

Toothless growled as he felt his wings falter whenever the wind buffeted them, and looked behind him at Hiccup, wondering what they were to do next. Hiccup took one look at the heavens, which were flashing periodically with bright spikes of lightning, and decided that he'd have to go back.

"Okay, bud," he said, having to shout over the booming thunder that was pealing across the sky at the moment. "Let's go home."

Toothless nodded in agreement. He had never liked storms much anyway, even though he knew some dragons who did. He let Hiccup steer him around to return to Berk.

Except that Berk wasn't there.

All Hiccup could see was the dark, thundering clouds of the storm, stretching across the horizon. He saw no familiar land mass he called home, no tall mountain that stood proudly in the centre of the island, no healer's hut belonging to the village elder, Gothi; nothing.

Then the lightning struck. Hiccup had been so preoccupied by the fact that he'd flown farther than he'd thought that he didn't even see it coming. All he knew was that in the blink of an eye, Toothless' prosthetic tail was scorched to a crisp and they were falling

towards the hungry ocean below. As soon as he hit the water, Hiccup sank like a stone, the shock from falling from the air still paralyzing him. Toothless landed with a splash, sank for a few feet, then resurfaced, looking desperately for his rider. Not spotting him, Toothless dived back under the water, searching as much as he could until he needed to breathe again. But Hiccup was nowhere to be found.

* * *

><p>When he hit the water, the first thing Hiccup experienced was cold; the water felt way too freezing for it being August. So, he concluded he must be father north if the water was so cold. How he was still thinking about his location while drowning, it is unclear. But he was, so he didn't notice the green-turquoise blur that flew (if it can be done underwater) at him at near the speed of Toothless when he was in his top form. Suddenly thinking of Toothless, Hiccup wondered where he was. He searched the waters in front of him for the familiar black dragon, but saw nothing but brown seaweed strands waving to and fro, and out of the corner of his eye-<p>

_WHAM!_

_-_he saw a Scauldron approaching him, fast. In no time at all, the aquatic dragon had scooped Hiccup into its mouth and continued on its way like he wasn't there. Inside the Scauldron's mouth, Hiccup lay half in a pool of water, too shocked to move. He expected to be hastily swallowed or mashed to bits, or both, but the Scauldron just kept going. Hiccup supposed that it was escaping the storm and he had just happened to be in the way. Just when he sighed and wondered what had become of Toothless, the Scauldron opened its mouth and half a dozen small fish, along with quite a lot of water, rushed in, surrounding Hiccup and somehow forcing him out of the dragon's mouth and back into the ice water of the ocean. He choked and spluttered before finally surfacing, scanning the horizon for any island, or even a small rock, where he could wait out the storm, which was still raging overhead. When he turned to his right, the Gods must have smiled upon him, because through the wind and harsh downpour of rain, Hiccup managed to see the form of an island not far away.

Without hesitation, he set out for the island, trying to keep his nose above the waterline as he did so while the ocean repeatedly tried to drag him down again with strong waves. Finally, when Hiccup felt like he could swim no longer, he felt sharp rocks bruise his calves as he neared the shore. Exhausted, wet and lost, Hiccup wearily crawled the last few feet before collapsing onto the sweet surface of wet sand and falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>Toothless couldn't believe it. He had gone under the water repeatedly, searching for Hiccup; a strand of auburn hair, a piece of green vest, anything, but it was in vain. What if Hiccup had actually drowned? Would he still be at the bottom of the ocean, or would the underwater currents drag his body further away?<p>

Just when he decided that he had no choice but to dive underwater for the last time to join his rider like the loyal friend he was, Toothless spotted a fishing boat rocking in the waves not far from him. _Maybe Hiccup made it to that boat, _Toothless thought hopefully as he began to swim to it.

**Author's Note:**

**So, did you like it? Not like it? Please rate and review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Mulch cursed himself for not immediately returning to Berk when he'd spotted the storm clouds in the distance. If he had, then maybe he wouldn't be stuck on this Gods-forsaken fishing boat with poor Bucket, who was howling in pain as the bucket on his head tightened more and more the closer the storm came. But by the time he had decided to head back, the storm had blown in, bringing with it high winds, a crushing downpour of heavy rain, black clouds, deadly bolts of lightning and booming crashes of thunder.

Mulch sighed. He and Bucket had asked the Chief if they could go out to collect more fish and eels to last the winter, which would be coming soon. Stoick had approved and they had gone out earlier that day, unknowingly sailing farther and farther away to catch more seafood. Now it was too late, and they would probably shipwreck soon on some nearby island, which he'd seen in the brief flash of light the lightning strikes gave when they touched the water.

_Thump, thump!_

"Hold on, what was that?" cried Mulch, feeling the boat tip over to the other side as some unknown beast kept hitting the side of the boat. He wondered if it would be a Scauldron or a Thunderdrum to attack them, as that was what was surely must be happening, and which one he'd rather prefer. Suddenly, a black form hauled itself over the side of the boat, landing with a wet_ plop _on the deck and making Bucket shriek in surprise from where he was kneeling by the mast.

"Sweet Thor! Toothless, is that you?" asked Mulch, studying the dragon that had just collapsed at his feet, looking exhausted. _Wait a minute_, thought Mulch. Shouldn't Hiccup be here too? Mulch had never seen Hiccup without Toothless, and vice versa. But the dragon's saddle was empty, and looking into Toothless' green dragon eyes, Mulch knew that something terrible must have happened. Toothless got up and nudged Mulch towards the steering wheel of the ship, trying to get him to sail back to Berk to get reinforcements to find his Hiccup. Mulch understood, and tried to gain control of the boat. With some help from Toothless, who held the heavy wheel in place against the rage of the storm, the trio headed back to Berk, hoping it wasn't too late for Hiccup.

* * *

><p><em>This storm is one of the worst ones I've ever seen, <em>thought a girl as she studied the clouds from her window. _It's way too early in the year for this kind of hurricane._

The girl leaned back and sighed. Her hair fell in curly dark brown ringlets down her back, her eyes were a deep brown, her skin was a sun-baked brown and she stood tall and thin, but with a weathered toughness to her. Her name was Rebecca, but her parents had usually called her Beck. It had been seven years now, seven long, lonely years since her parents had died in a Scauldron attack, and seven years since she had buried them on the other side of Sunset Island, as she liked to call it, because of its beautiful sunsets.

She was alone now, with no siblings to look after her since her parents died when she was only seven years old. Beck slowly got up and began to turn away from the window to get something to eat when a sudden bright white flash from outside caught her eye, and she spun around again. There! Falling in what looked like slow motion from the sky was a dark shape (_Kind of like a dragon_, she thought) and a smaller shape, one she could barely make out from her warm, safe stone house in the woods near the shore. They both hit the water, but Beck could only see the large dark one surface. Then there was a streak of green under the water, and through the rain and wind she thought she saw a boat, bucking wildly in the waves. But then the rain came down harder and she could see no more.

_How very interesting_, she pondered as she made her way down the ladder from the upper floor of her house and towards her fireplace, where she stoked the fire for a few minutes before curiosity finally got the better of her and she grabbed her cloak and dashed outside, into the storm. Beck just had to know who those shapes falling from the sky had been, and it looked like that boat needed help.

Reaching the north shore, she gasped in surprise at what she saw. There, on the wet sand, was a person, face down and unconscious! Beck looked quickly out to sea, but saw nothing except for the waves of dark water as they swept towards shore. Suddenly she panicked. Those waves would drag the person out to sea!

Beck gritted her teeth and ran towards the prone figure, grabbing their shockingly cold wrists in her hands and dragging him (yes, she had seen in a flash of lightning that the person was a he) inland, just as the wave crashed and broke where the boy had once been, the water almost reluctantly retreating back to the ocean without a prize to drown. Speaking of drowning, Beck glanced suddenly at the seemingly lifeless boy she had dragged away from shore, and felt his pulse. Weak, but regular. That was good.

She decided to take him back to her house and see if he would wake up, and maybe, while she was at it, dig out some old clothes of her dad's to replace his soaking wet ones. When Beck arrived back at the small house, she lifted the boy easily (she guessed he weighed no more than 90 pounds) and placed him by the fire with a blanket to warm up, then headed out to the reserve cabin on the side of her house to get some food for him.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Mulch thought that they were making relatively good progress towards Berk, since the storm had moved on some hours before. Finally, when he could just see a faint point of light rising over the lip of the horizon, accompanied by beautiful tones of red, orange, yellow and pink, Mulch spotted the familiar shape of Berk as he neared its shores.<p>

"Good to be back, eh, Toothless?" Mulch commented to Toothless, who looked like if the boat didn't reach the shore in less than five seconds, he'd try swimming there instead. "It'll be alright, Toothless," Mulch reassured the dragon. "We'll find him."

"Find who?" boomed a voice. Mulch, Bucket and Toothless turned as one to the sound of the voice, which came from the docks. Finally, the fishing boat reached Berk's docks and all three jumped out.

"We were talking about your son, Stoick." for indeed, it was he. "After we got caught up in that awful storm, Toothless jumped aboard and helped us sail back. But Hiccup wasn't with him." Mulch replied.

Stoick's face went pale, confirming his fears from last night when his son and his dragon hadn't come home. Some villagers had claimed to see Hiccup riding off to the sea yesterday around sunset, but that didn't make sense. Why would Hiccup go riding off in that direction? He usually just did a lap or two around the island before coming back. Stoick turned now to Toothless, needing answers. "Well, Toothless? What happened?"

Toothless, seeing the stricken expression on the Chief's face, roared, flew (or at least, _tried_ to, since he needed a rider to fly) a few feet into the air, indicating that they had been flying, then twitched midair and bit the air where his prosthetic tail had been, indicating the lightning bolt hitting there, then let gravity tighten his hold on him as he fell back to the ground while making swimming movements to indicate that they had fallen into the sea and he'd had to swim to the fishing boat. Then finally, Toothless glanced back at his riderless saddle, then looked at Stoick, trying to get him to understand that it was at that point when Hiccup had disappeared.

Stoick, for his part, tried his best to understand the Night Fury's way of acting out the event. He didn't understand all of it, but he got the gist of it. Hiccup had taken Toothless for a flight, they had gotten caught in the storm (which he had seen from his house high atop the hill last night) and struck by lightning, burning Toothless' fake tail off, where they'd fallen into the ocean, Hiccup had gotten lost and Toothless had found the fishing boat. Stoick was now very worried for his son. That had been a mighty storm he'd seen last night, and the thought of Hiccup being stranded on an island, forced to keep swimming to stay alive or, even worse, _drowned_, was terrifying. He was all Stoick had left of his beloved wife, Valka, who had been killed in a dragon raid when Hiccup was a baby.

The Chief of Berk now set his jaw determinedly, not about to give up on Hiccup. He knew his son was as stubborn as any Viking, even if he wasn't as strong or as handy with a weapon like one. After rounding up some villagers to help repair the fishing boat, which had ripped sails, broken oars and several leaks from the storm, Stoick set off to find the other teens, their dragons, Gobber (his best friend and the village's blacksmith) and his own dragon, a Thunderdrum named Thornado to form a search party for Hiccup, which he planned on starting as soon as possible.

After having finally found Fishlegs in the Dragon Academy adding more information to the Book of Dragons, Stoick the Vast stared grimly at the assembled group in front of him, all mounted on dragons, including Gobber, who was on Thornado so Stoick could ride Toothless so the Night Fury could lead them back to where Hiccup had disappeared (Gobber had improvised a new tail for Toothless from some sheep skin so he could fly).

"Alright," he shouted, to get their attention, as the twins were head butting each other again. "My son has disappeared at sea after an unfortunate accident, and we need to find him." Here all the teens looked at each other nervously, having not really noticed that Hiccup had gone missing in all the mess from the dragons' misbehaviour from yesterday. "The twins, Fishlegs, Gobber and their dragons will travel by boat to search the waters for Hiccup. The rest of you will fly with me as Toothless leads us to where he last saw Hiccup." Stoick commanded. Fishlegs let out a tiny groan at the thought of being stuck on a boat with the twins, but immediately shut up when Stoick looked sharply in his direction.

"We leave immediately!" Stoick cried, as the three dragons containing Stoick, Astrid and Snotlout took off, while the twins, Fishlegs, Gobber and their dragons climbed aboard a Berkian warship and set off after them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Savage muttered to himself angrily as he trekked through the Berk undergrowth towards the village, sent as a scout by Alvin the Treacherous to see how effective the Berkians' defences were. The treacherous Outcast leader and six other Outcasts, including Savage, had landed on Berk in the dead of the night last night, sneaking inland to camp out and make a new plan to capture the Dragon Conqueror. However, ever since Savage had accidentally let a dragon escape from the Outcast dragon arena back on Outcast Island a few days ago, Alvin had given him all the worse jobs. He had to scrub the dragons' stalls, even though that was never done on account of the Outcasts not caring if the dragons wallowed in their own filth; he was sent to capture any really dangerous dragons, like the Whispering Death he had barely managed to catch the other day for the dragon arena, and now, Savage was forced to go through the enemy lines to spy on the Chief's house to navigate any sneaky, quiet ways to get past Stoick the Vast and the Dragon Conqueror's dragon, the Night Fury, and capture Hiccup without a fuss.

Finally, he arrived, but not where he expected. Instead of coming out of the forest near the Chief's house, Savage had apparently become so distracted with his annoyance with his leader that he had turned himself around and in the direction of the docks. Just as he was about to head away though, Savage heard snatches of a conversation that instantly froze him in place.

"My son has disappeared at sea... find him... will travel by boat to search the waters... rest of you will fly with me..." It was Stoick's voice. Savage chuckled to himself darkly.

"Oh, Alvin needs to hear this," he muttered, planning on telling the treacherous Outcast leader about the disappearance of the Dragon Conqueror.

* * *

><p>Savage was still out of breath when he finally arrived back at the Outcast camp, having run straight there and immediately informing Alvin what he had learned.<p>

"So, the boy's missing, eh?" Alvin laughed. "I'd expect nothing else from that little runt. So weak."

"So... should we follow them?" asked Savage warily, having gotten his breath back but not wanting to make Alvin more angry with him than he already was.

"Hmm? Oh, ah, very well," Alvin said after a pause, for he hadn't thought of following the Berkian search party to find Hiccup first. "Pack up your things! We're heading on a little field trip!" he commanded.

Two minutes later, they had set sail in a small rowing boat after the Berkian ship, which could still be seen sailing north, away from Berk. Of course, Alvin had his men row the boat, as he didn't want to be huffing and puffing by the time he captured the Dragon Conqueror.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back on Sunset Island, Hiccup woke up from his slumber by Beck's fireplace. He groggily opened his eyes and clutched the blanket he was under-<p>

-wait, blanket? Fireplace? Where in Odin's name was he?

Hiccup quickly shot up straight and had a look around. He seemed to be in a small cottage-like house, built of stones stacked together with a ladder poking through the ceiling, presumably leading to an upper floor. There were two chairs that must have been stuffed with sheep wool on either side of the fireplace, a table stood in a corner of the room covered in pots, pans and other kitchen utensils and there was a pair of boots, a worn tunic and a pair of pants lying next to him. _I must be dreaming,_ he thought. _Last thing I remember is washing up on an island's shore._

Suddenly, the front door of the strange house creaked open, and a tall, thin girl with dark brown hair, brown eyes, light brown skin and threadbare brown clothes walked in, carrying three chicken eggs. Hiccup felt a rush of fear at the stranger and as quietly as he could, crawled away from the fireplace and behind one of the stuffed chairs.

* * *

><p>Beck furrowed her brow thoughtfully as she approached the fireplace. The boy wasn't there. Had he woken up while she had left to do her daily farming responsibilities, and run away? Just then, she saw a boot sticking out from behind one of her mother's favourite stuffed chairs. Upon seeing it, however, the boot quickly scuttled out of view.<p>

Beck chuckled to herself. He was hiding? Why? "Excuse me, you can come out now," she informed him.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the boy peered around the chair he was hiding behind and Beck got a good look at the fear etched on his face when his gaze fell on her favourite sword, which she still clutched in her hand after using it to dispatch a wolf that was intent on eating her sheep. "It's okay," she reassured him in a soft voice. "I'm not here to hurt you."

* * *

><p>Hiccup sucked in his breath when he heard the girl speak to him. He was found! Slowly, he looked warily around the corner and spotted the sharp looking sword she held in her hand. He was in a strange house with a strange girl with a weapon! Then the girl seemed to notice his fear and said, "It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you."<p>

"Wh-who are you?" Hiccup stammered. "And where am I?"

The girl smiled at him. "My name's Rebecca, but you can call me Beck. You're on Sunset Island, and you're in my house. What's your name?"

The boy seemed to relax as crept back to the fireplace, suddenly cold. "I'm Hiccup. I come from Berk, where my father is the chief. I was on a flying with my dragon, Toothless, when the storm came in and lightning struck Toothless' tail. I fell into the ocean, got picked up by a Scauldron, and swam here," he said. Hiccup was a bit surprised that Beck didn't look shocked at him mentioning flying a dragon.

"You're from Berk? That's where..." here she trailed off, eyeing a carefully drawn map on the wall of Berk, its surrounding islands, and in the top left corner of the paper, the small shape that was Sunset Island.

"That's where what?" asked Hiccup, curious.

Beck recovered from her slip and turned back to Hiccup. "Nothing. I'm just kind of surprised you made it all the way here, since it's pretty far from Berk. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, _please_," Hiccup replied, hearing his stomach groan from not eating since, well, yesterday's lunch. How long had he been away, exactly? "Hey, how long was I asleep?"

"You've been out like a light since last night, and it's about midday now," Beck said while carefully flipping some eggs on a pan over the fireplace.

"Wow, really?" Hiccup said with a sigh. He was going to be _so_ dead when his father found out that he had been so reckless.

"Yup," commented Beck cheerfully as she fetched a couple of plates and put one a half eggs on each of them. "Bon appetit."

Hiccup settled into the eggs heartily, then paused and looked around, confused as to why there wasn't other people in the house. Beck couldn't be living by herself, could she? "Beck, does anyone else live here?" he asked cautiously.

Beck paused with a mouthful of egg halfway to her mouth. "Well, yes," she admitted, putting the fried egg back down. "My parents died seven years ago, and I have no siblings."

"Oh..." was all Hiccup could say. He had thought that maybe the girl's parents were out getting food, or maybe she had an older sibling looking after her, but apparently Beck had had to fend for herself. The silence went on for so long that Hiccup jumped when Beck continued.

"It was a Scauldron attack," she said, fully ignoring her lunch by now. "They didn't know that they had stumbled upon its egg on the beach until it was too late."

"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, fully meaning it. He'd lost his mother at a young age, but he couldn't remember anything about her except her smile, and Beck must have had plenty of memories of her parents before she'd lost them, so it must hurt more than he could imagine.

"Don't be," she said now, toughening up. She reminded him of Astrid, Hiccup realized. "Do you want me to show you around?" she asked, getting up from the table and grabbing her cloak.

"Sure, why not," Hiccup replied, having wondered how Beck had gotten the three chicken eggs she'd cooked.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

When Hiccup was waking up on Sunset Island, Stoick, Gobber, the teens and the dragons were flying over the now calm ocean when Toothless suddenly stopped mid-flight and glanced from the water below him to the Viking on his back.

"What is it, Toothless? Why have you stopped?" asked Stoick, impatient to keep looking for Hiccup. Toothless let out a soft roar and stared pointedly at the ocean. "Oh, I get it. That's where Hiccup disappeared?" The Night Fury nodded eagerly and prepared to dive into the water with Stoick so they could find any clue of where Hiccup had gone. Sure, there wasn't an island or a rock in the sea for miles around, lessening Hiccup's chances of having survived the storm, but that didn't stop the determination of the search party from believing, _hoping_, that their best friend hadn't drowned. Call it a stubbornness issue.

* * *

><p>Toothless sliced through the surface of the water gracefully, letting himself sink while scanning the area for any sign of Hiccup. When he felt the ocean floor beneath his claws, Toothless looked at Stoick searchingly, wondering what the man planned on doing now that he couldn't find a clue of Hiccup's whereabouts anywhere. Granted, the dragon hadn't just expected to dive underwater and find Hiccup still there, alive and well, but he'd thought that maybe he see a Scauldron or a Thunderdrum and ask if they'd seen anything. Finally, Toothless began to swim back to the surface, having seen the dumbfounded expression on Stoick's face when the chief had realized that he had no idea where to find Hiccup or if he was even alive.<p>

However, just as the black dragon reached the surface, he felt Stoick jump off his back. Turning quickly, Toothless became confused when he saw that Stoick was swimming vigorously back towards the ocean floor. Believing the man to have left his wits on the ocean's sandy crust when he'd realized Hiccup must have surely drowned, Toothless swam after Stoick to retrieve him. But when he finally caught up to him, Toothless was shocked to see what Stoick clutched in his hands, having newly spotted them half hidden under a rock.

A stick of charcoal and Hiccup's notebook, the Berk crest still visible on the cover.

* * *

><p>"Come on, you lazy wimps! Step on it! I don't want to lose that Berkian ship!" Alvin yelled, frustrated that his men were already tiring. They (the Outcast soldiers, not Alvin) had only been rowing for two hours (though in reality it was twelve).<p>

"We're...trying...Alvin...but may I... make a... suggestion?" Savage wheezed, of course having been forced to row as well.

"What is it now?" Alvin asked irritably, still angered that Savage had been stupid enough to let a puny dragon escape from his clutches back on Outcast Island.

"Well...why don't we...take a breather-" Savage began.

"WHAT?! You dare tell me that you're tired? You've only been rowing for two hours!" Alvin shouted furiously.

Savage cowered a bit at the sound of Alvin's enraged voice, but still muttered under his breath, "More like twelve hours," and then proceeded to call Alvin a very nasty name indeed.

Alvin apparently heard Savage, because the next thing the exhausted Outcast soldiers knew, Alvin had pounced on Savage and was punching him in the face repeatedly, not seeming to notice that he sometimes hit the Outcasts' oars, which promptly broke in two and fell into the water in all the commotion.

Finally, Alvin came to his senses when he realized that too much noise might catch the attention of the Berkian ship, which the treacherous Outcast leader could still make out some distance away, heading father away. He threw Savage down, who landed on the bottom of the boat and stayed there, nursing his broken nose while wincing in pain.

Alvin returned to the bow of the row boat, taking his customary spot amidst the ropes and stones he planned on using to capture the Dragon Conqueror. They kept going like this for awhile, Alvin taking periodic naps, until he noticed that something wasn't right. Shortly after waking up again from his fifth nap, Alvin did not see the Berkian ship anywhere, but rather an island covered in forest with a small sandy beach. Alvin soon realized that they must have started to veer off course when Savage hadn't returned to his portion of the rowing (Alvin had let him, thoroughly disgusted with his second hand man), sentencing the row boat to always turn slightly to the left. He sighed heavily, wondering why Thor had to keep making things so difficult for him. His men were weaklings, that puny 90-pound boy somehow kept escaping his clutches and now they were lost. Then again, it may not be as bad as he thought. They had found an island, and now that Alvin thought about it, he was hungry.

So, when the Outcasts reached Sunset Island's shore (for it was indeed the same island Hiccup had stumbled upon), Alvin had one of the Outcasts who _didn't_ look like he was sleeping on his feet and Savage (because he still hadn't gotten over the dragon escapade and to top it off, the fight from a couple of hours before) travel inland to find some food, then settled himself in the tiny boat as comfortably as he could before taking another nap.

* * *

><p>Savage clutched his throbbing black and blue face as the pair made their way through the island's undergrowth, hacking at fruits that hung from trees and at one point, killing a boar that made the mistake of running into the clearing where the Outcasts happened to be trekking through.<p>

Just as he was satisfied with what he had gathered, Savage suddenly looked up and at a field to his right, having heard people talking. But that was absurd! This was probably just some deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Then Savage remembered how Hiccup had gone missing in the area and thought of how generously Alvin would treat him if he managed to catch the Dragon Conqueror for him...

Savage beckoned to his fellow Outcast and they crept silently to the edge of the field. He scanned the tall wheat field eagerly, still sure he'd heard voices. Suddenly, some wheat stalks rustled right in front of him and Savage and the other Outcasts quickly hid themselves in a conveniently located bush to their right.

"I can't believe you kept up all of this by yourself for seven years, Beck," Savage heard someone say, as the bush was too thick to see through. But Savage recognized the voice anyway. It was the Dragon Conqueror!

"It's really not all that hard. I plant the vegetable and fruit seeds, I water them, I collect the manure from the yak and use it as fertilizer, I harvest the fruit and vegetables, then I collect the seeds and do it all again." another person, a girl, replied.

"But that's only the vegetable and fruit garden! How do you keep up with milking the yak, sheering the sheep's wool, collecting the chicken eggs, feeding the animals, collecting the wheat..." Hiccup trailed off.

Savage heard the other girl laugh as their voices got farther away. "I have to do it, Hiccup. It's my responsibility. After all, no one else is here to do it."

When he left sure they'd gone, Savage popped up from the bush and impatiently pulled the other Outcast up with him, then hurried off in the direction of the beach. Wait 'til Alvin heard _this!_

* * *

><p>"That boy is here as well?" Alvin asked, a treacherous glint in his eye.<p>

"Yes, Alvin. I saw him myself," Savage affirmed, making up a little lie in the process.

"Then we need a plan. There's no way we'd get him by force now, even if we outnumber him, since my men apparently aren't capable of a simple rowing expedition," Alvin said, throwing the five other Outcasts collapsed on the beach a disgusted look. "So here's what we'll do..."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Hiccup couldn't believe how much work Beck had to do in a day. She had to feed the yak, the three sheep and the chickens, watch for any wolf or other predator in case they ate her animals, water and feed her vegetable and fruit garden, collect water from the nearby freshwater river, collect the wheat from her wheat field, the list went on and on. And Beck did it all, even though it wasn't necessarily her's to do. There was no one else on the island to tell her to do anything; if she was hungry she could've just caught fish or hunted boar every now and then and collect water from the river. But she did all this work anyway, and didn't even complain. Hiccup felt ashamed now as he thought of how he'd complained about keeping the dragons under control and being the village conflict-ender. Compared to Beck's work, he'd had it easy; all there was to calming down a dragon was some dragon nip or little chin scratch. Then Hiccup had a thought.

"So...why do you still live here?" he asked, since Beck could easily make a boat and leave the deserted island for a more populated one.

"Why?" she asked, as if the thought had never occurred to her. "Well, I guess it's because my family has always lived here. For several generations, in fact."

"Really? Why here, though?" Hiccup wondered out loud.

"Well...I suppose there's no harm in telling you. A long time ago, maybe around 200 years ago, my ancestors lived on Berk. The dragon raids were frequent, and they were all dragon fighters, of course, but my parents told me that one of them, a girl named Loretta, spared a dragon once in a raid because it was hurt and defenceless. As a result, her and her family were exiled, and they made their way to here. Ever since, my family has lived on Sunset Island, sort of coexisting with the dragons."

"Dragons? Where? I haven't seen any since the Scauldron almost ate me," Hiccup said, bewildered.

"That's because they don't want to be seen. However, I can call them," Beck said with an amused look on her face when she spotted Hiccup's bewildered one. She let out a few loud squawks, and to Hiccup's surprise a Deadly Nadder jumped out of the trees and stood in front of Beck, looking at her expectantly and eyeing Hiccup warily.

"Wow... you can call them?" Hiccup whispered, not wanting the startle the dragon.

"Yup. And watch this," Beck said, walking forward to the Nadder. She began to squawk and roar and even made a few clicking sounds in her throat. The Nadder nodded at her and flew away.

"What was all that about? Were you..._talking_ to the dragon?" Hiccup asked, amazed at what he had just saw. He and Toothless could eventually communicate what each other wanted, but _actually_ understanding and speaking Dragon? He could find out so much more about them!

"Yup. After living around them for so long, all of my family members eventually pick it up. The dragons aren't trained though, not like yours. I can just ask them for a favour every now and then. Like now," she said, seeing the Deadly Nadder coming back with a few fish in its mouth, freshly caught.

The Nadder dropped the fish at Beck's feet and the girl squawked something before the Nadder flew off again.

"What did you say?" Hiccup asked.

"Oh, I said thank you," Beck replied, picking up the fish and walking back in the direction of her house. But before she could, a loud roar sounded out from the beach. Beck immediately dropped the fish and dashed away, Hiccup following a few paces behind, what with his metal leg and all.

"Beck! Wait up! What is it? Where are you going?" Hiccup panted.

Beck suddenly stopped and turned to Hiccup. "That was an injured dragon roar, and it came from the beach. I have to help it," she said, turning again and hurrying towards the beach.

However, when the pair reached the sandy shore, Hiccup tripped over something and was immediately caught in a rope net hanging from a tree branch. He yelped in surprise causing Beck to turn towards him when six Outcasts came out of hiding from bushes and behind trees, pointing arrows at them. Hiccup saw Beck narrow her eyes as she scanned the approaching Outcasts, looking for an escape route. Suddenly, just as an Outcast reacher for her arm behind her, Beck pulled out her sword from her belt and slashed at him, driving him back. She easily defeated him, not striking any fatal blows, Hiccup noticed, but instead slashing at the soldier's arms and legs. The other Outcasts immediately pointed their arrows at Beck and moved forward to attack, but Beck defeated them all in quick, fluid motions. Hiccup was amazed at her swordplay skills. She never got distracted, was always alert and knew exactly how to disarm an opponent, judging by the halved arrows littering the ground.

Beck turned back towards the hunter's trap containing Hiccup when she saw a shadow detach itself from the fading light of the forest and put a knife against Hiccup's neck, keeping him in place with another meaty hand holding his wrists behind his back through the rope.

Hiccup felt a cold blade against his neck and felt his small wrists grabbed by a large hand and tugged behind his back. He turned in panic to see who was holding him hostage, but with all the Outcast archers, he should've guessed.

Alvin looked at him with malice and chuckled. "Well, we meet again, Dragon Conqueror! And I see you've befriended some forgotten orphan, too." The Outcast didn't realize the truth of his words as Beck growled at him.

"Let...Hiccup...go," she said, drawing her sword and pointing it at Alvin.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. See, your friend owes me some dragon training lessons," Alvin said, clutching Hiccup's wrists harder, making the boy wince in pain. "And you have five seconds before I slit his throat," the Outcast leader growled, pressing the knife harder at Hiccup's throat until he drew a thin line of blood. "Five...four...three...two-"

Here Beck made a run for it, dashing into the forest. However, a few paces away, she glanced back at Hiccup, an apology in her eyes, before continuing on her way.

Alvin chuckled as Hiccup stared hopelessly in the direction that Beck had disappeared, listening to the twigs cracking as she headed further inland.

"Some friend. She just abandoned ye!" Alvin said, still laughing. He abruptly removed Hiccup's net from the branch and started walking towards the Outcast row boat, proclaiming over his shoulder, "Anyone who can get in the boat doesn't get punished for being so _pathetically_ defeated."

As if a switch had been turned on, the six Outcasts hauled themselves up, ignoring their cuts and bruises as they hurried after Alvin and his prize.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Only a few miles away, Stoick tightened his grip on Toothless' saddle. They had searched all of the small islands in the vicinity of the spot where Hiccup had disappeared and had found nothing. Stoick sighed and wondered what he should do next.

Just then, Astrid spotted something floating in the ocean and told Stormfly to dive and do a tail flip. Stormfly gave a squawk of understanding and did what her rider wanted.

Astrid caught the object in her hands and took a closer look. "It's an Outcast oar!" she announced, pointing out the Outcast crest. Stoick and Snotlout flew down to look at the oar in disbelief, while Gobber directed to twins to steer their boat towards Astrid and her find. "Half and Outcast oar,"Gobber corrected, noticing the splintered edge of the wood. "I'd say that this oar has been floating in the water for about a few hours and came from that direction," he concluded, pointing behind him.

"I still don't understand how you do that, Gobber," Stoick said, puzzled.

"Trade secret, Stoick," Gobber replied with a wink.

Stoick merely sighed and turned away. "We head to Outcast Island!" he yelled. _I don't know what else to do_, he thought with a grimace. "The Outcasts may have taken Hiccup , so we'll go there for now."

* * *

><p>Hiccup tried not to despair while he watched Alvin yell at his men. His father was probably worried sick by now, and so would Astrid and Toothless, if Toothless had even made it back to Berk. <em>Don't think that<em>, he reprimanded himself. _Of course he would've made it back. He's too stubborn not to._

Now Hiccup had been captured by Alvin the Treacherous, who really lived up to his name. "So Hiccup," Alvin began, turning back to the boy in the net. "How 'bout I make you a job offer?" he asked with a smirk.

"Really, Alvin? You still want to me to train your dragons? Man, you're a persistent fellow, aren't you? Oh, and for your information, I will NEVER train your dragons, Alvin," Hiccup retorted.

Alvin merely grinned darkly and commented, "Still frosty, eh? We'll see how you feel later on. I can be a very persuasive man, you know."

Savage saw a chance to flatter Alvin and jumped in with, "He definitely can." Alvin only looked at him like he was a simpleton and told him to shut up or else. Savage gulped audibly and kept rowing while Hiccup tried to figure out an escape plan.

* * *

><p>When Beck deserted Hiccup on Sunset Island, she didn't actually run away. She may have just met the boy, but she could see that the big man (whom she guessed was the feared Alvin the Treacherous she had heard about from Trader Johann, who came every now and then to trade with her; Trader Johann had said that Alvin had tried multiple times to capture Hiccup and use him to train his dragons) who had trapped him was ruthless and Hiccup was pretty much defenceless in his hands. So, when she moved out of view of Alvin who held a knife to Hiccup's throat, she collected some various sized twigs and began to break them slowly, going in order from biggest to smallest so that when they cracked, each sound was quieter and would sound farther away, leading the Outcast leader to believe that she had actually left. When she had run out of twigs, Beck slowly and cautiously got up from her hiding spot and looked out. She saw Alvin lifting Hiccup, still in the net, effortlessly into a small fishing boat on the beach while his men dragged themselves up and after them.<p>

When they had rowed out of ear shot, Beck let out a dragon roar to call up a Monstrous Nightmare. One immediately flew down and looked at her expectantly. She told him in Dragon that she needed to go after a fishing boat and rescue a friend of hers from a terrible man, but the Nightmare took one sniff of the broken arrows that were still left on the beach and flat-out refused to do it, having smelled the dragons' blood that clung to the Outcasts like second skin since they had no value for intelligent life, human or dragon. She sighed and watched the Monstrous Nightmare fly away again and decided she'd have to build herself a sturdy boat; she already had one in the house, of course, but she would need a sturdier one to get all the way to Outcast Island (which was represented as a pointy rock sticking out of the ocean on her map on the wall in her house) instead of the smaller one she kept for fishing. An hour later, Beck stepped back to examine her creation with a look of proud satisfaction on her face. A boat sat in front of her, made from freshly cut wood from the forest and some elbow grease on her part. Beck looked out at the ocean and sat down to wait. All she had to do now was wait for the tide to change.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

On their way to Outcast Island, Stoick and the others stopped to restock their provisions before leaving again by dragon and by boat. However, a storm from the north (in fact, the same one that had downed Hiccup and Toothless) had reached Berk by the time they made it there, and apparently it had grown in strength, keeping the Berkian ship docked and the dragons grounded. They would have to wait it out.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, after what to Beck had seemed an age had passed, the tide reversed and she was able to hop in her little boat and start rowing away from all she had known to rescue a person she had barely known for two days. It sounded weird, but to Beck it seemed the right thing to do. If she had been captured by the man, she knew Hiccup would've come after her; he seemed the type.<p>

Three quarters of the way to Outcast Island, the storm that was headed to Berk crossed her path and capsized her newly made boat, throwing her into the icy waters before a lighting bolt torched the boat into ashes. Gazing at dust that had been a boat moments before, Beck sighed and resigned herself to swimming the rest of the way to Outcast Island.

* * *

><p>When the storm was gathering power as it headed towards Berk, a piece of it broke off and became a smaller, but no less intense storm that headed for Outcast Island. This storm reached its destination just as Alvin, the other Outcasts and Hiccup arrived on the rocky shore, Hiccup sill in a net and the Outcast rowers collapsed exhaustively in the boat.<p>

As soon as he was lifted off the boat, Alvin immediately took Hiccup to the Outcast prison cells and let him out of the net, shackling the boy to the dirty wall and laughing as he caught the helpless-but-furious look on Hiccup's face. Then he slammed the door, locked it and walked away, but not before loudly telling a passing Outcast soldier to prepare the dragons since their trainer was here. The other Outcast caught sight of Hiccup slouched in a corner of the cell and smirked, then left to do his leader's bidding.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The storm still raged at Berk some hours later, and Stoick was getting frustrated. What was Alvin putting Hiccup through? He knew his son was stubborn and strong-willed, but he wasn't strong physically, and Stoick knew how ruthless Alvin the Treacherous was. The Berkian chief sighed and turned away from the window and its taunting view of the dark storm clouds.

"He'll be fine, Stoick," said a voice behind him. "Don't you worry. That lad of yours is a strong one, even if he don't look like it." It was Gobber. He must have entered when Stoick wasn't paying attention. How long had he been there?

"I know Hiccup's stubborn, Gobber, but I know what Alvin is like. He won't stop at anything to get what he wants, and that's what I'm afraid of. But what if were just chasing shadows, Gobber? What if the Outcast oar was just there coincidentally, and Hiccup is...lost?" Stoick said in a rush. However, he couldn't bring himself to say "drowned".

"Calm down, Stoick, and let's think with our heads on. Do you _really_ think that the Outcasts would go that far north just for a rowing expedition?" Gobber said rationally.

Stoick thought over his best friend's words. "Well, now that you mention it, it does seem a bit odd," he admitted.

"There you go. Now what are you going to do about that crazy dragon sitting outside in all this rain, day and night?" Gobber asked, pointing to the door.

Stoick sighed again. Gobber meant Toothless, who had refused to come inside, even when the rain fell harder. He missed Hiccup, Stoick could see that. However, the dragon would have to eat something soon, if he wanted to have enough strength for when they flew to Outcast Island.

As if sensing his thoughts, there was a bang on the big front doors, indicating that Toothless wanted to come in (he couldn't open the doors himself, obviously). Stoick got up, puzzled, and opened the doors. Toothless rushed in and sat by the fireplace, giving Stoick a look that said, _Well, come on! I don't have all day._

Stoick lifted up a basket of various fish from the kitchen and put it in front of Toothless, saying as he did, "Here you go, Toothless. Dinner."

Toothless looked at him for a second more, then began scarfing down the fish one by one. Stoick looked at his son's best friend for a second more as well, then went back to staring out the window. Gobber joined him a few minutes later.

* * *

><p>Astrid was doing the same thing as Stoick at her house. She really missed Hiccup, she realized. She missed his smile when he saw her, she missed his sarcasm, she missed his quiet confidence. Then she mentally slapped herself. She was a Hofferson, and Hoffersons didn't just sit around and weep! Astrid got up and decided to check on her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.<p>

Stormfly was sleeping in her shelter on the side of Astrid's house when Astrid got there. She walked up to Stormfly and sat there, petting her dragon's nose and thinking about Hiccup. Stormfly didn't wake up at the disturbance.

* * *

><p>Snotlout didn't necessarily <em>miss<em> Hiccup, but he was, let's say, _slightly_ worried about his cousin's safety. He knew that Hiccup was full of sass, but sass only got you so far, and with Alvin it would probably only get him angry. Plus, Hiccup wasn't exactly the strongest Viking in the village.

Snotlout decided to stop thinking about Hiccup, since it wouldn't help matters, and go see his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. Hookfang hadn't woke up from his slumber last night, and to tell the truth, although he would never admit it, Snotlout was starting to worry about him. He arrived at Hookfang's pen in the Dragon Academy and looked in. Still sleeping peacefully. Snotlout grew impatient of just standing there, watching his dragon sleep, so he entered the pen to sit there and wait for Hookfang to wake up.

However, on his way in, Snotlout's foot brushed something on the ground, and he looked down. Some grass? Why would there be grass in Hookfang's pen? Then Snotlout got an idea as he looked from Hookfang to the grass. He picked it up and sniffed it, then made a face and held the dragon nip, for that was what is was, further from his face. Snotlout would recognize that scent anywhere. It smelled bitter to him, and he could never really understand how the dragons liked it so much, but that didn't matter now as Snotlout checked the other dragon pens. They were all still comatose from the dragon nip! Snotlout ran towards the chief's house, knowing Stoick _definitely_ needed to know this.

* * *

><p>Mildew chuckled as he watched Snotlout run all the way from that stupid Dragon Academy to the chief's house on the highest hill. He could tell Stoick that the dragons were drugged, but it wouldn't matter, because the damage had been done. They'd never figure out it was Mildew who had drugged the dragons, nor would they figure out that it was he who had put all the metal he could steal on their search party boat so that it would be struck by lightning in the storm. That way, they wouldn't suspect a thing. Well, they would when they found out someone had drugged the dragons, but Mildew had seen no other way to delay their departure. He knew that Alvin had captured the little runt, and the way Mildew saw it was that if Hiccup came back, the dragons would stay here. But if the search (or should we say, <em>rescue<em>) party got delayed enough that Alvin got frustrated enough with Hiccup that he killed him (Mildew knew the boy would refuse to train Alvin's dragons), then his problems would be over.

* * *

><p>Stoick yelled in frustration as he examined the dragons at the Dragon Academy. Snotlout had just come running from there with the news that the dragons had been drugged by some dragon nip and weren't waking up. Then Astrid had come running too with the news that Stormfly wasn't waking up either, and Stoick had had to explain the dragon nip incident. Astrid had thrown her axe at the far wall, successfully embedding it into the wall. Stoick watched as Fishlegs came running now too, probably with bad news as well at this rate. Fishlegs finally reached the entrance of the Dragon Academy and promptly collapsed onto the ground, heaving great, deep breaths before getting out, "Boat...lightning...struck...just...now," obviously having seen the event and had run full tilt straight from the docks to the Dragon Academy. <em>Thundering Thor!<em> thought Stoick. _Now the dragons are drugged, the boat is a wreck and the storm is still too strong to leave in anyway. _Hiccup had been missing for a week now, and they couldn't even go rescue him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Back on Outcast Island, Hiccup heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway and wondered if they would feed him now. He hadn't eaten or drank anything for a day now, and his rumbling stomach and dry throat were heartily disapproving.

A torch light could be seen lighting up the hallway, and then Alvin came into view, grinning. "Ye ready, Hiccup? The dragons are waiting for ye," he said, taunting him.

Hiccup glared at the Outcast leader, but that didn't stop Alvin from unlocking the cell door, detaching Hiccup's chains from the wall and dragging him to their dragon arena.

Alvin gave Hiccup one last hard push into the arena, then called for his men to crank the door down so Hiccup couldn't escape. When the heavy door had slammed into place, Hiccup heard Alvin chuckle to himself and walk away, probably heading to his special place high above the arena so he could watch Hiccup train the dragons.

Hiccup glanced once at the door keeping him in the arena, which had bars twice the thickness of his entire body, and concluded that he wan't escaping out that way. He turned away and looked at the various dragon pens, wincing at the scars on their skin and how thin they were. He jumped at the sound of a dragon pen door opening behind him, and turned to see what dragon they would make him train. Hiccup peered into the darkness, waiting for the dragon to jump out. He saw nothing, until...

A shadow became a Whispering Death that roared and flew at Hiccup, only to be stopped by Hiccup's outstretched hand with his head turned away and his eyes closed. He was telling the dragon, _I'm trusting you with my life. Please trust yours to me._

The Whispering Death paused, and then Hiccup felt it gently put its head into his palm. He cringed slightly and then looked up at the dragon, walking slowly forward. He had come up with a plan in his cell while Alvin was gone: he would train the first dragon Alvin gave him, then fly it out through one of the holes in the arena's ceiling and escape. He kept walking until he was close enough to jump on the dragon's back, which he did, causing the Whispering Death to rear up and start flying in circles around the arena, startled by the sudden weight on its back. Hiccup knew it was never good to startle a dragon, but he'd had no choice if he wanted to surprise Alvin.

Hiccup told the dragon quietly to calm down and that it would be alright in a confident voice, causing it to stop its frantic circling and hover in the middle of the arena. Then Hiccup said, "Ok, bud. Let's get out of here." The Whispering Death seemed to understand Hiccup and started flying upwards, to freedom.

However, before dragon and rider could escape, three bolas came out of nowhere and flew at the pair. Two missed their target, but the last one tangled itself in the dragon's wings, effectively grounding the Whispering Death's as it fell back to Earth, Hiccup gripping its back tightly so as not to fall off. He couldn't believe his plan hadn't worked! And now Hiccup couldn't try it again because Alvin would be careful next time. They finally hit the ground, the Whispering Death roaring at the Outcasts who surrounded it before tunnelling into the rock, leaving a gaping hole. Just before Hiccup could fall into the open space beneath his feet, he felt a big hand grab the back of his tunic and haul him up.

Alvin stared daggers at Hiccup when he set him back on the ground, growling dangerously before yelling, "You think you're smart, eh? No more funny business, Hiccup! Or else." This last part he added in a threatening whisper. Hiccup felt himself cower at the tone, no matter how hard he tried not to. Alvin seemed pleased that he had scared Hiccup because he only punched him in the face twice and kicked him in the stomach once before leaving him clutching his abdomen on the ground, saying over his shoulder, "Lock him up and don't give him food or water for two more days."

At this command, some Outcast men hurried up and dragged Hiccup back to his cell, removing his prosthetic before doing so and kicking him into the dark room. They laughed at their trick, knowing Hiccup couldn't walk without it, and left. Hiccup only curled up in a corner and ignored them, distracting himself from the pain by thinking of Toothless, Astrid, his father and Beck.

* * *

><p>A day later, Beck finally arrived on Outcast Island, completely exhausted. She collapsed on the beach, having never felt so tired as she did now. She barely managed to drag her tired body to a nearby cave before falling into a deep sleep.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Several hours after the dragons were drugged by the dragon nip, they finally woke up groggily, much to the relief of Stoick, the teens and Gobber. Now that the dragons were ready to leave, they wasted no time in departing Berk.

Mildew watched the departing forms and turned away to head back to his house, disgruntled that he couldn't do anything else to delay the rescue party. He sighed and absentmindedly petted his pet sheep Fungus, listening to its pleased bleating.

* * *

><p>Hiccup groaned as he awoke from an uneasy sleep. His cheek was throbbing from the punches Alvin had given him and there was a nasty looking bruise on his stomach from Alvin's kick. To make matters worse, the skin on his stump was irritated from how roughly the Outcasts had ripped off his prosthetic, and rubbing it wasn't helping.<p>

The boy uncurled himself from his corner stared blearily at his surroundings. Still the same dirty, dark Outcast cell. And his wrists were still shackled to a chain that was embedded into the wall. Hiccup sighed and wondered if Toothless was okay, if his father and his friends had started a search party, if Beck missed him. He truly didn't blame her for leaving him; after all, she'd only just met him, and she'd probably hadn't had any human interaction in a long time. He knew that Alvin would harm anything that got in his way, and Hiccup hadn't wanted Beck to get hurt. He was almost glad that she had departed when she had. Hiccup felt like he hurt whoever came close to him. He had shot down Toothless to get a better reputation and had left him with half a tail. He had brought peace between dragons and Vikings to Berk and the dragons were causing nothing but destruction. And Hiccup had felt too sorry for himself to notice that him and Toothless were heading into a storm, and Toothless was Gods knew where...

* * *

><p>While Hiccup was having his dark thoughts, Beck woke up in the cave by the shore she had collapsed in several hours earlier. She felt well rested, but worried that she had slept too long and that they were hurting Hiccup. She immediately grabbed her trusty sword and crept out of the cave, for she had to be more careful now; it only took one lousy soldier to spot her and sound the alarm. Beck finally arrived at the door to the Outcast prison and tiptoed inside.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Hiccup sat with his back against the wall, trying not to think about food or water. It had been at least two days (Hiccup had lost track of time since leaving Sunset Island) since he'd had anything to eat or drink. Suddenly, Hiccup perked up as the distant sounds of fighting reached his ears. There was the _thumps_ of three bodies hitting the ground, then light footsteps running in his direction. A warm glow spread down his hallway, and Hiccup could hear someone loudly whispering, "Hiccup? Hiccup! Where are you?"

Hiccup was shocked. It was Beck! How had she gotten here? Had she rowed here all by herself, just to rescue him? Hiccup couldn't believe it, not even when Beck reached his cell and peered into the gloom, holding a torch in one hand and a sword in the other. "Hiccup! Is that you?" she asked, and this time Hiccup knew he couldn't be dreaming.

"Beck! What are you doing here?" he asked in a raspy voice, his throat very dry from lack of water.

"Rescuing you, of course," she answered. "What does it look like?" Then Beck stared at the padlock of Hiccup's cell, wondering how to break it open quietly. Suddenly, she flipped her sword midair so she was gripping the blade and swung the hilt at the padlock, effectively smashing it to bits. Hiccup gaped at her strength; she was thin as a twig, but wiry looking. Beck opened the cell door, wincing at the protesting creak it gave and rushed in, stopping short at Hiccup's prone form shackled to the wall. "Are you okay?" she asked, eyeing the huge bruise on his face and the way he clutched his abdomen.

"I'll be fine," Hiccup said, trying not to appear as weak as he knew he must look. "Let's get out of here."

"Well, we need to get these off somehow," Beck said, pointing at Hiccup's shackles. Then, getting an idea, she reached over to the wall and tugged hard on the chains; so hard that she fell backwards onto the floor. But in her hands were the ends of the chains that had kept Hiccup prisoner. Beck gathered these into themselves and helped Hiccup up, noticing as she did so that one of Hiccup's legs ended at the knee, instead of a prosthetic. She had thought of asking him why his leg was crippled back on Sunset Island, but had not done so out of politeness. Now he had no prosthetic and couldn't walk, but Beck kept in her curiosity about this development and instead offered an arm and a shoulder to give him balance as they hopped out of the cell and into the hallway.

Beck had slashed at the grimy walls with her sword on the way in, showing the way out in case she needed a quick getaway. They took the first left and kept going until they reached the end of the hallway, where four Outcasts jumped out of the shadows and attacked them with maces and bludgeons. Beck immediately responded to the challenge and let go of Hiccup's shoulder, causing the boy to lose his balance and fall to the ground. However, Hiccup was much more distracted by how Beck fought: he could see again that she was expert swordsman.

She had just disarmed the last Outcast and started turning towards Hiccup when he felt a sting on his arm and an axe embedded itself into the wall next to him. He jumped away quickly as another axe was thrown at him, slicing his arm more deeply this time, but still just missing him. Beck turned again when a fifth Outcast came out of the darkness wielding two more axes. She walked forward calmly, staring right at the Outcast with her sword down. Hiccup was about to scream at Beck to ask her what she thought she was doing when he noticed that the Outcast was just as confused as he was, stopping where he was as Beck drew closer. She continued to stare at him, straight into his eyes, and Hiccup finally realized what she was doing. She was distracting, intimidating and creeping out the Outcast all at the same time, getting ready to strike when he least expected it. And she did. When she reached the Outcast, she suddenly looked over his shoulder, and Hiccup saw her face go white with fear. Hiccup so far hadn't seen anything that scared Beck, so he was concerned and stared over the Outcast's shoulder, but he didn't see anything. The Outcast glanced over his shoulder nervously when he was Beck's expression, and that was his big mistake.

When he looked away, Beck raised her sword and slashed across his legs, then across his right arm. He immediately looked back, startled at the sudden pain on his legs and on his arm, but Beck was quicker. By the time the Outcast had taken one step, she had run back to where Hiccup was lying, hauled him up and carried him bridal style halfway down the hallway to their right, where a slash mark was clear on the wall. They finally reached the welcome fresh air a minute and a lot of turns later, Beck setting Hiccup down behind a rock and asking, "So what's the plan?"

Hiccup thought for a minute. The only way they could get off the island was either by dragon or by boat, and he didn't like their chances much if they tried to steal an Outcast boat. So that left only one option. "I'll have to train a dragon," he said. Beck looked surprised for a second before she remembered how Hiccup had explained how he had trained the dragons on Berk back in her house on Sunset Island.

"Okay, but I need to see your arm," she said, already reaching for Hiccup's right arm, where the two axes had sliced his skin. Beck gently rolled up his tunic sleeve and took a look at Hiccup's thin arm before sighing and saying, "It's pretty deep, but I think you'll live." She tore a strip off her frayed pants, ignoring Hiccup's protests at her using her threadbare clothing to help him; after all, he'd be fine. Beck waved him off and tied the strip around Hiccup's arm tightly after dipping it in a nearby pool to wash it. Hiccup hissed in pain and Beck's face took on a gentler expression as she picked him up again and half ran, half walked away from their hiding spot so as not to jostle Hiccup's wounds too much.

They soon reached a clearing in the rocks and Beck set Hiccup down, eyeing the wild dragons resting in the clearing as she did so. She then helped Hiccup up and balanced him with her arm around his shoulders and his arm around her shoulders. They hopped towards the nearest dragon, a sleeping aquamarine Deadly Nadder. The Nadder woke up and looked at the pair warily, giving a curious squawk and cocking its head when Hiccup reached out one hand and turned his head away. After seemingly considering this gesture, the dragon reached out its big head and pressed it into Hiccup's palm, still staring at Beck warily. But Beck saw this cautiousness and chirped cheerfully, reassuring the Nadder in Dragon that she wouldn't hurt him. The Deadly Nadder looked surprised at the fact that a human could speak Dragon, but nonetheless allowed Hiccup and Beck to approach further and even let them on its back. Once they had gotten settled, Hiccup told the Nadder to fly and it did, quickly spiralling upwards before flying out to sea and towards Berk.

Beck heard another set of wings flapping and glanced behind her, tensing as she did. A Whispering Death was following them! "Uh, Hiccup, we have company," she said, a hand on the hilt of her sword.

Hiccup sighed at the tone of her voice and turned to look behind him. He flinched a bit at the sight of a Whispering Death following them, when he saw how thin it was and the numerous scars littering its body. "It's okay, Beck," he said, calming down now. "It's a dragon I trained on Outcast Island." Hiccup had recognized it as the one he'd trained for Alvin before trying to fly away on it. He'd last seen the Whispering Death tunnel into the ground with its wings tangled in a bola, but apparently it had untangled itself while underground.

* * *

><p>Alvin growled angrily to himself as he watched the Deadly Nadder and Whispering Death fly away with the Dragon Conqueror and that pesky little girl. Not only had that ninety-pound boy escaped from his clutches, but he had cost him a captive dragon. "This won't be yer last visit to Outcast Island, Hiccup," he promised to the sky.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Stoick sighed in relief as the strong headwinds they had battled for some time since leaving Berk faded away to cool breezes as they finally passed the last island in the vicinity of Berk before Outcast Island.

Stoick wondered why everything had to go wrong when he could least afford them to, like the storm coming to Berk, the dragons getting drugged, the boat getting struck by lightning and the strong headwinds just now. However, none of this did anything to deter his determination in finding his son and bringing him home safe. Nothing could stand in his way, and if they tried, they'd be sorry for the rest of their lives.

Suddenly, Stoick heard Astrid gasp and looked up. Astrid was pointing straight in front of her, in the direction of Outcast Island, and Stoick saw the the other teens and Gobber look in that direction too. The Berkian chief squinted into the distance and spied a dot coming towards them in the air. _Probably just a wild dragon_, he thought. But the dot gradually got bigger, until...

Hiccup! Stoick could make out his son's form riding a Deadly Nadder towards them. _But hold on_, he thought. _There's someone else behind him, and is that a Whispering Death following them?_

The teens and Gobber could see Hiccup too and the air was filled with cries of "Hiccup!" and "Are you okay?" When Toothless glimpsed his rider, he let out a roar of pleasure and relief. Stoick was surprised to feel a lump in his throat, preventing him from speaking, or he felt he might burst into tears, and Vikings don't cry.

The Deadly Nadder finally drew close enough that Stoick could see how bruised his son's face was, the bloody bandage on his arm and the way he clutched his abdomen. The chief felt the lump in his throat harden at Hiccup's injuries, but he managed to get out, "Oh...Hiccup! Thank Thor you're alright!"

Hiccup grinned at the sight of his friends and his father, especially Toothless. So he had made it to Berk after all! Hiccup hadn't doubted it for a second, though. "Dad! Astrid! Toothless! Oh my Gods, how did you know to come?"

"Toothless came back the day after you left and let us know that you had been lost in a storm. So, we headed back to the spot where you got separated and searched from there until we found half an oar with the Outcast crest on it, leading us to go looking for you on Outcast Island," Fishlegs summed up in one breath.

Astrid flew Stormfly up to Hiccup's Nadder and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow! Astrid, what was that for?" Hiccup asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"That was for scaring me! I thought you were _dead_, Hiccup!" she replied. Then, leaning closer, she kissed him on the lips.

"And what was that for?" Hiccup mumbled, a bit shocked.

"For being alive, of course," Astrid said cheerfully. Then she noticed the thin girl sitting behind Hiccup on the dragon and asked, "Who is she?"

"Astrid, this is Beck," Hiccup introduced. "Beck, this is Astrid." Beck looked at Astrid and gave a shy smile. Astrid smiled encouragingly back before asking Hiccup in a low voice where she'd come from. "That's a long story. I'll tell you when we get back to Berk." Hiccup replied vaguely. Then he turned to Beck and asked, "So...are you coming with us? Or do you want me to drop you off at Sunset Island?" putting more emphasis on the first option, obviously wanting her to stay with them. Beck couldn't just carry on having to fend for herself when she could have some help!

Beck looked torn for a few seconds before answering, "I'll... I'll come and stay on Berk. But I need to go get a few personal things from my house first." Hiccup grinned. So she'd come and live on Berk! He urged the Deadly Nadder onwards, knowing he was finally heading home.


	13. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Beck set up house in Berk soon after she arrived (literally; she lived by herself in her own house, still retaining her inner independence). She grew to become friends with the Whispering Death that followed them to Berk and named him Chainsaw. She also joined the Dragon Academy at Hiccup's urging, who knew Fishlegs would flip if he found out she could speak Dragon. However, despite Beck's repeated attempts at teaching it, no one, not even Hiccup, could ever pick up the language.

_THE END_


End file.
